One of the major problems with the GOP is their obsession with keeping tax cuts out of the discussion and their willingness to go to extremes to defend the indefensible. The Buffett tax proposal is less about closing the deficit (although that $31B surely helps) than it is about making sure that rich folks pay at least as much -if not more- than other taxpayers.

Buffet has explained very well how and why the rules are rigged to allow folks like him to pays less taxes than his secretary and how he pays the lowest taxes of all his employees in his office. He explains why the rules are stupid and should be changed. Now you can expect to hear a lot from the Dems this election about how the entire GOP lines up to grease the system so that people like Buffett and Mitt Romney pay significantly less taxes than they do.

Mitt Romney is going to get asked this question and I look forward to hearing how he makes the case for why he should pay less taxes than anybody else.

The Dems of course have problems too, and Obama specfically, but there's are always less ridiculous in comparison.

Oh, I'm sure you are right that they will make it a big issue, and successfully so. Sorry to see that you have drunk the koolaid though. As is the case 100% of the time, such a law would have unintended consequences on investment behavior, and the rich will find ways around it, leaving the onus on the middle class. But hey, it is "fair"$#@!

The road to liberal hell is paved with fair intentions. Welcome aboard!

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse." -- John Stuart Mill

$31 billion is a spit in the ocean, but you have fallen for the Obama line that it is the be-all and end-all. He counts on people as gullible as you for his support.

I won't humiliate you by bringing the stats about how much of the total tax burden the top 1%, 10% etc....pays because it has been beaten to death here. The fact you are clueless on this is what Obama is counting on for your vote.

Are you sure your aren't really some fat black woman who wails about how Obama is gonna pay her electric bill and fill up her gas tank?

One thing I think the GOP got right, even though it's a small thing in the greater scheme of the budget, was the ban on earmarks. The symbolism was important since the corruption in earmarking was (is?) rampant.

The fact that rich people pay less in taxes than everybody else by way of the capital gains and payroll taxes and assorted other thing that are pointed out really bothers people and it resonates. Especially in the era of austerity where we're looking at cuts everywhere. Like Buffett says, he pays the least taxes in his office and nobody's bothered to ask him to sacrifice.

"America is like the George Zimmerman of the world. Wandering around seeing what everyone else is up to." ~TBBOM

The road to liberal hell is paved with fair intentions. Welcome aboard!

The liberals can take their entitlement programs and shove them up their asses. They can do something 10x worse with affirmative action. As far as progressive taxation, they're exactly on point. That the GOP supports/defends regressive taxation is beyond belief.

"America is like the George Zimmerman of the world. Wandering around seeing what everyone else is up to." ~TBBOM

The liberals can take their entitlement programs and shove them up their asses. They can do something 10x worse with affirmative action. As far as progressive taxation, they're exactly on point. That the GOP supports/defends regressive taxation is beyond belief.

Like I said, good intentions. Show me a method to accomplish your goal which:- Isolates "rich person" investment income yet doesn't penalize the retired person living off of it.- Doesn't shift investment funds in to more tax-friendly countries.- Actually gets rich people to pay the tax.

and I'd be on board. I know I'm a broken record on this, but: rich people have smarter and more motivated people working for them who will always find a way around the government. There is a reason Buffet's portfolio is set up as it is. And when your law is in place, Buffet's people will change it appropriately.

But hey, for the first time in ever, maybe it will work this time! Actually it doesn't matter; the value is in the political leverage in demonizing the rich.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse." -- John Stuart Mill

The liberals can take their entitlement programs and shove them up their asses. They can do something 10x worse with affirmative action. As far as progressive taxation, they're exactly on point. That the GOP supports/defends regressive taxation is beyond belief.

What is regressive taxation?

•The top 5% of income earners pay over 50% of all personal income taxes.•The bottom 50% of income earners pay no income taxes. •The top 1% of income earners earn about 18% of all income but pay about 38% of all income taxes.•People who earn over $1 million in any given year account for 0.2% of all taxpayers. They pay 21% of all income taxes collected by the federal government.

Like I said, good intentions. Show me a method to accomplish your goal which:- Isolates "rich person" investment income yet doesn't penalize the retired person living off of it.- Doesn't shift investment funds in to more tax-friendly countries.- Actually gets rich people to pay the tax.

and I'd be on board. I know I'm a broken record on this, but: rich people have smarter and more motivated people working for them who will always find a way around the government. There is a reason Buffet's portfolio is set up as it is. And when your law is in place, Buffet's people will change it appropriately.

But hey, for the first time in ever, maybe it will work this time! Actually it doesn't matter; the value is in the political leverage in demonizing the rich.

If we took every penny the rich earned this year we would still be running a $1 trillion defecit. HTH

Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. - Alexis de Tocqueville

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.- Ben Franklin

•The top 5% of income earners pay over 50% of all personal income taxes.•The bottom 50% of income earners pay no income taxes. •The top 1% of income earners earn about 18% of all income but pay about 38% of all income taxes.•People who earn over $1 million in any given year account for 0.2% of all taxpayers. They pay 21% of all income taxes collected by the federal government.

First, this is totally besides the point. We're not talking about what the working poor or the retired pay anyways. I hate to follow your misleading tangen/dodge other than to say it's misleading because the bottom 50% still pay payroll taxes which are significant for them. There's also various state taxes they pay. The mega-rich that would be affected by the Buffett proposal don't hardly pay payroll taxes at all as it gets capped at a certain max which is a rounding error for them.

I'm not talking about the $11,600 standard deduction or exemptions of of $3,700 per person. Or of not taxing SS money. Personally, I'm fine with those, but it's a different topic.

Buffett's proposal is useful for comparing income taxes of the middle class with the taxes mega-wealthy. It's for comparing people who do pay income taxes with people who do pay income taxes.

"America is like the George Zimmerman of the world. Wandering around seeing what everyone else is up to." ~TBBOM

Like I said, good intentions. Show me a method to accomplish your goal which:- Isolates "rich person" investment income yet doesn't penalize the retired person living off of it.- Doesn't shift investment funds in to more tax-friendly countries.- Actually gets rich people to pay the tax.

and I'd be on board. I know I'm a broken record on this, but: rich people have smarter and more motivated people working for them who will always find a way around the government. There is a reason Buffet's portfolio is set up as it is. And when your law is in place, Buffet's people will change it appropriately.

But hey, for the first time in ever, maybe it will work this time! Actually it doesn't matter; the value is in the political leverage in demonizing the rich.

Looks like a big excuse to me. Buffett addresses this exact point in his story. And capital gains weren't always taxed so lightly, the results were just fine.

"America is like the George Zimmerman of the world. Wandering around seeing what everyone else is up to." ~TBBOM

First, this is totally besides the point. We're not talking about what the working poor or the retired pay anyways. I hate to follow your misleading tangen/dodge other than to say it's misleading because the bottom 50% still pay payroll taxes which are significant for them. There's also various state taxes they pay. The mega-rich that would be affected by the Buffett proposal don't hardly pay payroll taxes at all as it gets capped at a certain max which is a rounding error for them.

I'm not talking about the $11,600 standard deduction or exemptions of of $3,700 per person. Or of not taxing SS money. Personally, I'm fine with those, but it's a different topic.

Buffett's proposal is useful for comparing income taxes of the middle class with the taxes mega-wealthy. It's for comparing people who do pay income taxes with people who do pay income taxes.

I don't even know what to say without looking like a complete "look at me" dooshbag. I've been a 1%er for the past 4 years. I've had enough money to go on any lavish vacation I've wanted to. I've eaten at the best restaurants in the country/world. I make it a habit to purchase Christian Louboutin shoes. I rent a beach house every summer in the most affluent shore town in NJ. If I wanted to buy a really nice house I could do so with cash right now without ever having to pay a mortgage. I have $180K in checks from last summer that I haven't even cashed yet because there was a mess up and the company I was working for in Manhattan had the wrong address.

And if the government wants to raise my taxes because we are in a time of crisis, it will not affect my life in the teensiest tiniest little bit. Because I have more money than I could possibly ever spend and I live a very luxurious lifestyle.

I tried to say this in a way that wasn't bragging about myself about 6 months ago, but it didn't work out too well because I got in a fight with Strike and it ended up with him wanting to see my tax returns. But I was basically agreeing with a guy that had been interviewed on Wall Street about how he wouldn't really give a shiit if his taxes went up.

The whole thing that is focked up with the low tax rate on capital gains.... is that the extremely wealthy investment banker types' entire salary is capital gains. So they could be making millions of dollars a year on capital gains and they have zero salary. I think this is where Warren Buffett is going with this. It is focked up that someone making that much money pays less percent in taxes than an average middle class person does. The system is broken.

And for some reason a whole bunch of people that don't have a lot of money (or ironically are unemployed and living off of the government) want to try to defend the wealthy people as if the wealthy are going to somehow make their lives better. You wanna know what? We are just going to keep on keeping on with our European vacations and custom made European clothing products because they are about the only thing not made in China right now and pieces of shiit. HTH!

I don't even know what to say without looking like a complete "look at me" dooshbag. I've been a 1%er for the past 4 years. I've had enough money to go on any lavish vacation I've wanted to. I've eaten at the best restaurants in the country/world. I make it a habit to purchase Christian Louboutin shoes. I rent a beach house every summer in the most affluent shore town in NJ. If I wanted to buy a really nice house I could do so with cash right now without ever having to pay a mortgage. I have $180K in checks from last summer that I haven't even cashed yet because there was a mess up and the company I was working for in Manhattan had the wrong address.

And if the government wants to raise my taxes because we are in a time of crisis, it will not affect my life in the teensiest tiniest little bit. Because I have more money than I could possibly ever spend and I live a very luxurious lifestyle.

I tried to say this in a way that wasn't bragging about myself about 6 months ago, but it didn't work out too well because I got in a fight with Strike and it ended up with him wanting to see my tax returns. But I was basically agreeing with a guy that had been interviewed on Wall Street about how he wouldn't really give a shiit if his taxes went up.

The whole thing that is focked up with the low tax rate on capital gains.... is that the extremely wealthy investment banker types' entire salary is capital gains. So they could be making millions of dollars a year on capital gains and they have zero salary. I think this is where Warren Buffett is going with this. It is focked up that someone making that much money pays less percent in taxes than an average middle class person does. The system is broken.

And for some reason a whole bunch of people that don't have a lot of money (or ironically are unemployed and living off of the government) want to try to defend the wealthy people as if the wealthy are going to somehow make their lives better. You wanna know what? We are just going to keep on keeping on with our European vacations and custom made European clothing products because they are about the only thing not made in China right now and pieces of shiit. HTH!

I'm a 1% too but in a different way, I ran around the Iraqi desert next to some tanks for college money less than a month after my 19th birthday. I was well aware of the Paul Hardcastle song "Nineteen" by the way.

Oh, what a sh*tty job. Far worse than worst job teaching overseas. Still, it paid my way to a bachelor's degree in history from the enormous non-selective commuter university a 30 minute drive from my mother's house on 8 Mile (Wayne State) which got me exactly nowhere as my hometown is/was falling apart with no jobs and I spun my wheels Fortunately, my cr@ptastic degree was sufficient enough to get me work in China teaching the language I grew up speaking and that's made all the difference.

I can't say I know a damn thing about investing as I've never had a penny to invest, but I recognize smokescreens, half-truths, and distortions when I see them. Nobody addresses what Buffet says head-on because it's indefensible.

"America is like the George Zimmerman of the world. Wandering around seeing what everyone else is up to." ~TBBOM

I don't even know what to say without looking like a complete "look at me" dooshbag.

phillybear is Geek of the Year 2006
phillybear is Geek of the Year 2008
phillybear is Geek of the Year 2009
phillybear is Geek of the Year 2011 (as Lackman)
phillybear is Geek of the Year 2012
phillybear is Geek of the Year 2013

The "Buffet Rule", if implemented, would bring in about $31 Billion over 10 YEARS. That's a putrid $3.1 Billion per year, or enough to run the country for about 8 hours.IIt's a bullshit smokescreen election year talking point for the dumbmasses.

I wonder if Obama will run on his "99% Record"? Apparently that's about how many on his reelection staff in Chicago that are white.

A photo of Obama’s “army” originally posted on the campaign’s Tumblr site and run in conjunction with a BuzzFeed story on the Obama campaign reveals a stunning lack of diversity among the president’s Chicago staff.

The Obama campaign’s Chicago headquarters has it all—from Jack Daniels and Ping Pong to bouncy balls and ironic desk mementos.

Yet the “army of twenty-somethings” campaign manager Jim Messina has assembled in the president’s hometown is almost uniformly white, according to photos contained in a detailed BuzzFeed report Monday.

Further examination of the Obama’s campaign’s Tumblr site over the past month reveals very few black individuals—apart from the president and his wife, Michelle—in the pictures posted in the feed.

One of the only featured pictures to include a black individual is one from a recent White House visit by Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols.

The revelation is potentially embarrassing for the first White-African-American president and the party he leads.

In August 2011, Obama signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to develop plans for improving workforce diversity.

The apparent lack of racial diversity at the Obama campaign headquarters comes at a time when the national black unemployment rate is nearly double the rate for whites.

According to the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 14 percent of blacks are currently unemployed, compared with 7.3 percent of whites.

The divide is even more pronounced among younger age groups. According to BLS data, the black unemployment rate among 16- to 19-year-olds is 40.5 percent, compared with 22.5 percent for whites.

In Illinois, the black unemployment rate—as high as 28 percent, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security—far exceeds the national average.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has come under fire from African-American groups in recent years alleging that the party organization has failed to award contracts to black-owned business despite repeated pledges to advance the interests such firms.

With all due respect, in this election year it is necessary for the country to have a significant distraction to deflect the light from the poor job we are doing running this country. Our efforts to kill the second amendment failed with Fast and Furious, you know. We killed the housing recovery and our fake green initiatives have driven gas prices to all-time highs, though we have been able to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to our friends, so that's a plus. We tried upsetting the religious folks by saying abortion and contraceptives and women by saying abortion and contraceptives, but so far, we've only gained a few of the fence-jumper lesbians, which we thought we already had. Rich people don't really like us unless they are doosh movie stars, so our tax rate hikes only make poor people dislike other people, but we already have the poor people because we pay them. We tried to occupy your bowel movement by paying acorn members to act stupid, but that didn't work, so now we pay those acorn people to be in the Black Panther Party to try and scare white folks into thinking they should be scared. Turns out, it's just made for more gun and ammo sales, so we're probably going to have to confiscate guns if we're going to look scary at all. So, be ready for that, but don't shoot the acorners, please. We killed Osama too early, but the intel from Gitmo we received using the water board told us we should do it then. So, again, we killed Osama. Thank you."

A full day of campaigning in Florida today. Nothing said about his record, instead he spent all day touting the "Buffet Plan" that will add $3.1 Billion per year......enough to run the country for about 8 hours. So, he spent longer today pushing this useless plan than it would actually pay for.

Election year yaksqueeze to get the mindless minions all riled up because it isn't "fair" that they get to keep some of their money.

Yet another day of attacking the rich for not paying their "fair share".

I hope he thinks ignoring his record and pushing the useless "Buffet Rule" 24/7 until November is a winning strategy.

He recently found out that his competition is going to be Mitt Romney. He can do pretty much anythoing he wants at this point. His campaign will be the simplest one in history. Just show the countless flip-flops that Romney has made.

He recently found out that his competition is going to be Mitt Romney. He can do pretty much anythoing he wants at this point. His campaign will be the simplest one in history. Just show the countless flip-flops that Romney has made.

I'm not sure Obama wants to get into a flip-flop battle.

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse." -- John Stuart Mill

Oh, he absolutely does. Not saying there are no examples of Obama doing it, just saying that Romney is going to be proven to be a guy who lies for political gain. Not just occasionally, but constantly. I guarantee you that that is how the Obama campaign camp will handle this election.

When politicians say, "spread the wealth," translate that as "concentrate the power," because that is the only way they can spread the wealth. And once they get the power concentrated, they can do anything else they want to, as people have discovered -- often to their horror -- in countries around the world.

Oh, he absolutely does. Not saying there are no examples of Obama doing it, just saying that Romney is going to be proven to be a guy who lies for political gain. Not just occasionally, but constantly. I guarantee you that that is how the Obama campaign camp will handle this election.

And if they do, and I don't doubt they will try this, it will be the most ironic campaign in history considering how OBama lies for political gain on a daily basis.

The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that 45 million people in 2011 received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, a 70% increase from 2007. It said the number of people receiving the benefits, commonly known as food stamps, would continue growing until 2014.

Click for larger CBO infographic. Spending for the program, not including administrative costs, rose to $72 billion in 2011, up from $30 billion four years earlier. The CBO projected that one in seven U.S. residents received food stamps last year.

In a report, the CBO said roughly two-thirds of jump in spending was tied to an increase in the number of people participating in the program, which provides access to food for the poor, elderly, and disabled. It said another 20% “of the growth in spending can be attributed to temporarily higher benefit amounts enacted in the” 2009 stimulus law.

CBO said the number of people receiving benefits is expected to fall after 2014 because the economy will be improving.

“Nevertheless, the number of people receiving SNAP benefits will remain high by historical standards,” the agency said.

It estimated that 34 million people, or 1 in 10 U.S. residents, would receive SNAP benefits in 2022 “and SNAP expenditures, at about $73 billion, will be among the highest of all non-health-related federal support programs for low-income households.”

Talk about being a no-balls pussie. You are so damn sure that Obama is doing a horrible job. You post three threads a day telling everyone about all his fock-ups and shortcomings. But you still hedge your bets about him being a one term President because you're too much of a cuunt to stick your neck out and possibly be wrong.

Talk about being a no-balls pussie. You are so damn sure that Obama is doing a horrible job. You post three threads a day telling everyone about all his fock-ups and shortcomings. But you still hedge your bets about him being a one term President because you're too much of a cuunt to stick your neck out and possibly be wrong.

You're a focking joke.

Entitlements are bribes to poor people to stop them from societal insurrection... Do you have any idea how many bribes and how many people are in the pockets of the taxpayers...

Its not about him doing a good job or bad job to that contigent of people, its how big is the next bribe going to be... Thats the whole game..

From a macro view its student council pathethic, running on longer recesses and more milk and cookies...

Entitlements are bribes to poor people to stop them from societal insurrection... Do you have any idea how many bribes and how many people are in the pockets of the taxpayers...

Its not about him doing a good job or bad job to that contigent of people, its how big is the next bribe going to be... Thats the whole game..

From a macro view its student council pathethic, running on longer recesses and more milk and cookies...

Before 2008, Republicans won the last two elections. Your excuses are total bullshiit and just a cop out to cover your asses if you lose in November. If your little theory is correct, why do Republicans EVER win?

Entitlements are bribes to poor people to stop them from societal insurrection... Do you have any idea how many bribes and how many people are in the pockets of the taxpayers...

Its not about him doing a good job or bad job to that contigent of people, its how big is the next bribe going to be... Thats the whole game..

From a macro view its student council pathethic, running on longer recesses and more milk and cookies...

So Obummer is bribing poor people, who tend not to vote much by the way, with unspecified entitlements ... but Romney et al. aren't bribing industry and the rich, who contribute huge sums of money to political campaigns, when he runs on a platform of tax cuts and deregulation?

Ooookay then.

This is my signature. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.

Before 2008, Republicans won the last two elections. Your excuses are total bullshiit and just a cop out to cover your asses if you lose in November. If your little theory is correct, why do Republicans EVER win?

It's hard to agree with you and BudBro at the same time on this but I try...

The Bushtard was a "Compassionate Conservative." One of the ways he proved he was a new Republican in the 2000 election was by blindsiding the GOP legislature when they were negotiating with the Clinton White House by criticizing them for proposing such drastic cuts to entitlement programs.

The word "no" was not in his vocabulary, he said "yes" to every special interest under the sun.

Still to this day, every time I think of that focker, it brings out a Ted Nugentesque rage in me.

"America is like the George Zimmerman of the world. Wandering around seeing what everyone else is up to." ~TBBOM

Here is a quick list of Obama's 'accomplishments' since taking over. Being from Texas, I don't get to see many ads run by the candidates, so if anyone can point us to anything on this list that Obama is out there touting it would be appreciated.

By Neal Boortz

I’m going to try to build a little cheat sheet that Nealz Nuze readers can use when then get into the inevitable arguments with voters involved in the national suicide pact to reelect Barack Obama. For the first portion of the cheat sheet I’m going to rely for the most part on some data gleaned from a column by U.S. News & World Report editor Mort Zuckerman.

•How about a job? About 15 million Americans of working age have no job and are looking for work.

•Every fifth man in America is out of a job.

•Fewer Jobs. There are 5.5 million fewer jobs right now than there were when Obama was inaugurated.

•Employment Levels. Employment has been below the pre-recession peak for over 50 consecutive months.

•U3 Unemployment Stats. This is the 8.2% figure quoted by Obama for last month. This counts only people who have applied for a job in the previous four weeks.

•U6 Unemployment Stats. This figure counts the number of people who have applied for jobs in the previous 6 weeks. It also includes people who are working in part-time jobs who want to work full time. The U6 unemployment rate is now around 15%

•College Graduates In 2007 90% of all college graduates found a job. Today that figure is 56%. •Nearly 87 million Americans are NOT in the labor force.

•Dropping Out. Since Obama was sworn in about 3 million people have dropped out of the jobs market. These people are no longer even bothering to look for a job. If they were still in the market – still hopeful – the unemployment rate would be about 10.8%.

•Economic Growth after Great Depression. In 1934, 35 and 36 our economy growed at 11%, 9% and 13%. Economic growth in 2010 was 3%. In 2011 it was 1.7%. This year we’re running between 2 and 3%.

•Private Sector Hiring. Through June of 2011 private sector hiring was 10 times slower after the passage of ObamaCare than it was in the 16 months prior to ObamaCare.

•New Businesses. We need 1 million new businesses every year to sustain growth. We’re running about 400,000 right now.

•Layoffs and Hiring. In the first months of 2012 layoffs have risen 18% from a year ago. Hiring plans have dropped 82%.

•Per Capita Income. In May of 2008 per capital income in the U.S. was at $37,752. It’s now at $37,606. Adjust this for inflation and you have $36,641 in 2008 dropping to $32,600 now. This is the first time since the 1930s that inflation-adjusted incomes have decreased in America.

•Welfare Over $1 trillion spent on government entitlement programs in the last two years.

•Welfare Increase A 5,500% jump in means tested welfare since 1970.

•Welfare percentage Over ½ of households in America have someone receiving entitlement checks.

•Food Stamps Under Obama food stamp use has increased by 41%.

•Every 7th person you pass on the sidewalk is on food stamps.

•EBT Cards The increase in the use of EBT cards is 135%.

OK … that’s a start. We’ll work on gathering more statistics and expanding this list. Now you’re not going to get a lot of converts face-to-face, but there’s always the possibility that some Obama myrmidon, when faced with these facts, will have a second thought when they actually walk into a voting booth. Forward this to all your friends .. especially friends (Remindamom?) who still think Obama is actually good for this country.